The Men of Before
by AnimaAmore
Summary: SIDE story(-ies) to "The Perfect Costume Problem." The untold stories of the the monsters of Akatsuki, before and after they met Pein, and, most importantly, the Angela Sakura.


**Author: **AnimaAmore

**Rating: **T, mainly for language but some other situations that require some level of maturity

**Genre(s):** Romance, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, Adventure, Fantasy

**Type of Fanfic:** AU modern

**Pairing(s):** SakuraMulti, SakuraAkatsuki, SakuraxTeam7

**Disclaimer:** Characters all belong to Masashi Kishimoto. This story, however, is mine.

**Author comments:** Due to popular demand, here is the first instalment of my _Angela & Monsters_ trilogy. Yes, you heard right - a trilogy. Aside from "The Perfect Costume Problem" which was the original (and now Book 1 of the trilogy), popular demand has made me think that story needed a little more. Hence, here is "The Men of Before" (Book 1+1/2) which is a collection of side stories telling the pasts of the monsters, and finally "Angela on a Mission" (Book 2) which will tell the adventures of Angela Sakura as she learns how to use her newfound powers while dealing with the infatuated monsters and all their quirks. I hope you like :)

Please read, review and enjoy!

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><p><span><strong>Deidara I<strong>

So I'm a demon, yeah.

Actually, I don't have a clue what type of demon. After all the years I've had this form Pein gave me, I've researched different demon types to see if there are any side effects I don't know about my monster form. So far, I've come up blank. Sure, there were a few hits of monsters with mouths on their hands like me, yeah, but none quite like me. They were just regular monsters, not something specific like me, yeah.

I dunno if to be pleased at the idea of being absolutely unique or not, yeah. I'm practically an endangered species.

I was currently sitting on a huge tree in a little valley in the middle of only Pein-knows-where. It's our hideout, of sorts, yeah. We - I mean Pein and the other monsters, the "coven" or whatever - can live for some time in mundane human society, but every now and again we go to a little location Pein set up for us so we can be ourselves. I mean our monster selves, yeah.

It's bizarre. I've gotten used to it by now, but the thing is that if we go too long on our normal human forms without turning into our monster forms, we start to get fidgety. Pein says that it's because we are no longer fully human, and we're repressing half of ourselves; hence, our monster side can't be "free" and gets pent up. It's a crazy explanation, yeah. But it fits. It's like holding our breath. Every time we exhale, yeah, we are monsters, and every time we inhale, we are humans. If we hold our breath to hold our human forms, we have to let it go eventually or else the discomfort will eventually be unbearable. And in between the inhales and exhales, we find our true selves - our cores, our state of being and existing.

Such a poetic (and right to a T) way of putting it, yeah. Though I shouldn't be surprised. It was Sakura-chan who came up with that, yeah.

Sakura had been, obviously, invited to our hideout and provided a room of her own. Not that she actually really stayed overnight, yeah, but she had at least accepted and showed up relatively frequently. Since this place was difficult as hell to locate, Pein had given her a little charm that served as some sort of key to a time-space wormhole or something. So the nice thing about that was that when she showed up, she could stay for more than a couple hours at a time, yeah. Which was not only "nice" in the nonchalant sense of the word, but pretty damn good, yeah. I mean, with over a dozen monsters practically tripping over themselves to spend time with her, the extra hours are more than welcome.

Speaking of which, there she comes. I looked down from my perch, her exotic pink hair immediately catching my attention between the trees.

"Sakura-chan, yeah!" I called out to her, stretching my wings out as I swooped down.

She jumped, startled, turning her head to look up at me. She smiled and raised her hand in greeting as her gaze followed me all the way down until I landed only a couple of feet from her. "Hi there, Deidara," she said.

I folded my wings back and reached out to hug her - a practice only some of the other dorks and I could get away with – when a hand burst into my peripheral vision just an instant before colliding with my solar plexus and pushing my back. It didn't hurt me, yeah, but it sure as hell was an effective deterrent.

I pushed my hair back and scowled at the one responsible, while Sakura merely sighed and shook her head, long used to this type of behavior.

"Sorry, doggie-kun, I didn't notice you there, yeah," I said sarcastically to the resident werewolf. He bared his teeth at me, letting out a low growl.

"Sorry, dumbass-san, I didn't know you were blind, _yeah_," he bit back. "I'll make sure to wear some neon signs next time." His insufferable furry companion, Akamaru, who was tucked into his jacket pocket, barked in agreement.

Before I could use my mouths to turn them both into a nice fur coat and pull rug, respectively, Sakura placed herself between us. "Alright, you two, that's enough," she said, glaring disapprovingly between us. "And you're not helping any either." Akamaru whined but otherwise just stayed put and sulked, yeah.

I smirked. That's my Sakura-chan, yeah.

"Anyway, I've spent the last two hours with you, Kiba," Sakura continued on. I frowned. Two hours? In a row? "I think it's time I spent some time with Deidara now. I didn't really get to spend much time with him yesterday, or the day before."

It was obvious that dog-breath wasn't too keen on her idea, but after throwing her a puppy-eyed look (snort) and seeing no indication of her switching her mind, he lowered his head in acceptance. She sent him one last smile before turning towards me. But of course, the stupid mutt couldn't let it go at that, yeah.

No, the furry idiot whipped around and _bloody licked her cheek! _Like some sort of beast, yeah! As if kissing her wasn't bad enough, it had to be like a freaking dog, yeah!

"_Kiba!"_ both Sakura and I screeched at the same time, she with shocked mortification and I in jealous anger (I'll admit it, yeah). How dare he! Sakura swung her fist around, but the werewolf was already long gone, his supernatural abilities giving him both speed and quick reflexes. His annoying laugh followed the cloud of smoke he left on his wake.

I opened my wings, ready to follow him and teach him a lesson he wouldn't soon forget, yeah, but Sakura merely had to hold my hand and I was rooted to the spot. I glanced down at her, questioningly.

"I can't believe he did that," she complained, cutely rubbing her cheek with her sweater sleeve as she tried to get Kiba's "kiss" off her cheek. "I mean, it's cute when Akamaru does it, but he's a dog. Getting licked by a human is just…" She shook her head, glancing at me guiltily. "Your hands are the one exception, since I know you can't fully control them."

I resisted the urge to smirk smugly. It was true that I didn't have full control of the mouths on my hands, yeah, but what Sakura didn't know was that although not full, I still had a pretty good control over them. I just merely, occasionally, happen to "slip up" on said control when she was around. Like about now.

Sakura jumped slightly, her green eyes darting quickly to our joined hands before narrowing her eyes at me. "That was on purpose, Deidara. You can't fool me," she said. I grinned at her, giving her an abashed look while scratching the back of my head. Sakura had actually a pretty good intuition. While she couldn't always tell when my hands did something out of their own volition or because of me, she could mostly guess correctly, yeah.

"Sorry Sakura-chan, yeah."

She rolled her eyes, but a tiny smile made its way onto her face nonetheless. Seeing her now, it was hard to tell how badly we'd scared her when she first met the coven. She talked to us as if we were just more of her normal, fully-human friends, yeah, taking all our quirks – personality ones as well as those of our monster shapes – in stride. That's what everyone loves about her. I sure as hell know I do, yeah. And for more than just that.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Just try not to do that again, okay?" I nodded. "Good. Well then, we have some time before I have to go. Not that much, but enough. What would you like to do?"

I thought about it, tugging slightly on her hand and guiding her through the dense woods around the mansion. We often took long walks like this. It was relaxing, yeah, and nice to get away from all the noise of the others. "How about we continue where we left off, yeah?" I suggested. "I kind of like the speech therapy we've done so far." It had been another one of her ideas. This way, she got to know more about our pasts while getting used to our current us. Plus, she said, talking about ourselves was a good way to get to know ourselves and release some of the pent-up emotions we've been harboring since we never talk about our pasts. It's worked well so far, yeah. The others seem slightly less grumpy too.

"Sure," she said with a smile. "Same place as last time?" I grinned at her, pulling her towards me and extending my wings.

"You know it, yeah," I said as I scooped her up in a princess carry and shot upwards; her breathless yelp the only indication I'd caught her unprepared.

"_Deidara! Slow down!"_ she shrieked as she wrapped her arms around my neck and tightened her grip to an almost painful point as I changed the angle of wings and sped forward. I couldn't stop grinning yeah. Messing with her like this was just so much fun.

"What was that?" I called to her. "You want me to go down? Okay, yeah." She began to correct me when I suddenly swooped down and shot towards the ground, her surprised scream trailing behind us as the wind shrieked in our ears. I laughed merrily all the way down, then pulled up just before we reached the canopy.

I was still laughing at the fun and exhilaration of it all, flying way more slowly and serenely towards our spot by the nearby river; a sharp contrast to the roller coaster ride of just a second ago. I looked down at Sakura. "How was _that_, yeah?"

She forced herself to release the death grip she had on me with one hand, using it to shakily brush her hair out of her face. She glared at me. "Very funny," she grumbled sarcastically. "You know I'm still getting used to flying with you guys. Especially you, Mr. Loose Cannon. If you ever want me to fly with you again, wait until I'm ready."

I pouted. "You know I'd never drop you, Sakura-chan, yeah," I said.

"That's not the issue and you know it. I need to be both mentally _and_ physically prepared. Gods, if I was even thirty years older, I'd have suffered a heart attack long ago."

"Then it's a good thing you're young and beautiful, yeah," I chirped. She rolled her eyes again, her cheeks taking on a faint pink color.

"Just don't do that again, Dei." This time, I was sure it was me whose cheeks were slightly tainted pink. It really was no secret that I was sucker for her nickname for me, yeah. And she clearly knew it.

"Fine, yeah," I acquiesced. Sakura was very sharp, yeah, but what neither she nor anyone else knew was that the main reason I did what I did when flying with her was, aside from the obvious rush, that I really, really liked how tightly she held on to me. Not because she was scared of falling – her absolute trust in me was moving, yeah – but because it was her natural reaction to reach out for someone. And I delighted in the knowledge that said someone was me (though it was I who caused the need for said reaction to begin with, yeah).

We arrived at our little spot by the river. I found the biggest tree in the area, an old oak with thick branches each strong enough to hold the combined weights of several adults, and an even thicker trunk. I landed on one of the largest branches and gently placed Sakura on her feet as my wings folded behind me. Sakura walked towards a little nest she'd made for herself on our previous visits, composed of some spare blankets and cushions to make our "sessions" more comfortable on the tree. She combed her hair as she sat down, crossing her legs beneath her. I followed her lead and perched beside her, on a side branch with many smaller branches tied to and growing from it to form a cocoon-like seat.

"So where were we, yeah?" I asked her, sounding like I'd sincerely forgotten as I leaned back and used rested my head on my arms. As if.

Sakura, satisfied she'd wrestled her tousled locks into a semi-proper style, puffed up a pillow before settling it behind her as a backrest. "You'd just finished telling me about the first time you ever saw fireworks," she responded. I grinned.

"Now I remember, yeah." I looked up as I mentally recalled what I'd told her so far.

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><p><em>I'd been born in Germany, in 1893, back when it was an Empire before the First World War. My parents lived and worked in a small town near the capital city, my mother as a simple washerwoman and my father a librarian assistant.<em>

_I was the third of six children, but my older sister and the eldest of the six had been born with a weak heart and died when I was four. The youngest two of my siblings, twins Arndt and Marko, didn't survive childbirth and died shortly after being born when I was seven. My mother had almost died then, too, but through great efforts of the local doctor and midwife, and my mother's iron will, did she recuperate. However, she was told she'd never have more children. She took it surprisingly well, saying that after birthing six and losing half, she'd be more than happy to focus on the health of her surviving children._

_Otto, my older brother by a year and a half, and Mirjam, my younger sister by nearly three, were the two siblings who grew up with me. _

_Otto, the silent, brooding, ever-so-serious with no sense of humor brother, was a miniature adult. He took his duties and role as an older brother and eldest son with a deep sense of responsibility. It was no secret that he was my father's favorite, though my father denied it. I couldn't really blame either of them, though. My father himself was a serious man, rarely smiling even when he was pleased; while Otto's personality allowed him to help my father in his work very often._

_Mirjam, sweet, happy Mirjam… The opposite of Otto, she was a true little bundle of joy, a true ray of sunshine. She was the one thing that could make my father smile tenderly, and the one person Otto would allow himself to embrace. While Otto was my father's favorite, Mirjam was my mother's. It wouldn't really surprise me to find that she was the whole town's favorite, yeah. It was impossible to not love her. She's been but a baby when our eldest sister, Letta, had died, and was still fairly young when the twins passed away, so while I'm sure she felt their loss at some level, she wasn't as affected as the rest of us; hence, her smile could remain radiant without the touch of heartbreak to wilt it. _

"So while in reality I was one of the oldest," I'd told Sakura, "I was really the middle child all along, yeah. And middle children often have trouble getting noticed."

_Otto, the eldest son, the old man in a boy's body was often spoken well of in all the social circles; praised for how responsible, smart and hard working he was, how blessed my father was for having such a son to inherit the family name._

_Mirjam, the little princess, the source of all happiness was like a treasure. She was beautiful, and was nicknamed endearingly "The Town's Fairy," for truly she was beyond lovely; with her long golden hair, huge sky-blue eyes and sweet dimpled smile with rose-petal lips and natural blush. The townsfolk would stop by just to take a glance at her, and the women would send her gifts just to keep her happy and smiling. They all said the same thing: how blessed my family was to have such an angel in their midst._

"But that's normal, isn't it?" Sakura had asked, noticing how bittersweet I sounded as I retold my past. "For children to be their family's blessing, I mean."

I'd given her a small, sad smile at her innocent inquiry. "Sakura-chan," I'd answered her, "I never included my name in that list, yeah."

_Otto was the responsible one, the one who'd one day inherit the family name._

_Mirjam was the lovely princess, the God-sent angel of joy._

_And I was Deidara, the poor sucker who never quite fit in._

_As Hidan previously said, in his not-so-polite wayward way, I had a thing for tasting things. I wasn't so stupid as to stuff my mouth with any random crap that crossed my path, yeah, but I was adventurous. It might be because I had a more sensitive palate than the others of my town, but I was fascinated by how each substance had its own unique taste; how perfectly identifiable something was by using only my taste buds. Just like some people become addicted to collecting paintings and invaluable objects, I became addicted to collecting flavors._

_And that's when any reputation I might've had begun to deteriorate._

_At first it was innocent enough. People found my silly experimentations amusing, and teased me in a good-humored sort of way. Some would give me scraps from a "secret family recipe" and asked my opinion on it. Some asked me if I could identify the ingredients. It never failed to amaze some of them how accurate I was. Others who went out of town sometimes brought food souvenirs, and gave me a smidge to try. And on sillier occasions, some other kids would purposely cook some disgusting thing for me to eat, which I did to humor them. It was pure fun, even if it never really amounted to anything._

_But then things got strange. My curiosity about flavors spiked, and I started tasting other things other than food. Trees, leaves, grass, flowers, even some bugs. I didn't eat them, I just wanted to taste them. But that was weird enough as it was. And sooner or later, the rumor that I'd eat anything sprung to life. People who'd know my family and I all my life begun to give me odd looks. Kids who'd played with me on a daily basis begun to ostracize me. And younger kids begun to fear me, thinking that if they displeased me I'd actually eat _them_. _

_It wasn't long before the taunting and bullying started. And after that, it wasn't a novelty for some of the crueler kids and adults to forcefully manhandle me into either staying clear of their property or forcing some nasty shit down my throat. I became violently ill several times. The doctor became a constant presence in my home, more often than not to make sure I hadn't been unintentionally poisoned and to heal some of the injuries I'd receive by some of the most aggressive and violent assholes._

_The thing is, that upon realizing what my odd hobby was doing, I tried to change. I stopped tasting everything; I even went so far as eat less to make it look like I wasn't, in fact, a bottomless, all-consuming devouring monster. But it was too late. Rumors, gossip and wild imagination had taken hold of my life._

_I think the only thing that was worse than being an outcast in my own town and being constantly hurt was the fact that my family, who tried their best to protect me and make excuses for me, soon lost patience with _me_. The townsfolk started to praise my siblings and my parents' luck less and less, and instead gossiped disapprovingly and pitied my family for having a problem child such as I as one of them. Any prestige my family might have had was quickly replaced my scorn and suspicion, all because of me._

_As you might imagine, my parents didn't take it kindly. They loved me in their own way, yes, but… It was hard. Especially when the maltreatment persisted, even after all the changes my family and I made. Especially when my brother grew up and went from being the boy with a thousand paths laid before him to becoming the assistant of the assistant in some dingy shop. Especially when my little sister, who all swore was the most beloved, couldn't find any friends to play with her, and wondered why the nice ladies who used to bring her treats would no longer look her in the eye._

_It didn't really help that during that time period, "freak shows" were all the rage. People with what we now know are genetic disorders and rare diseases were known far and wide for the beyond strange appearances and abilities. Science had been able to provide some explanation in some of these cases, but logical explanation behind it or not, the fact remained that these people were freaks. And now I was considered one of them._

_I isolated myself. I rarely came out of the house, and when I did, it was mostly late in the day when most people had gone home. My nocturne activities really didn't help matters, but it's like they say: out of sight, out of mind, yeah?_

_However, after some time, it became obvious what a strain my continued presence was causing on my family. Not only did my brother have a hard time finding a suitable job for one so gifted as him, and my little sister losing her life-force, but my father had taken ill and couldn't always work. My mother had to work extra hours, but even then money soon became tight. It didn't help matters that, terrified as I was of going out to find work, never mind if someone would actually hire me, I was more of a burden than anything. I ate the food bought by the hard labor of my family, yet contributed nothing in return. Sure, I helped care for the house and my father and sister. But that was it. And the problems soon left a living tension in my house._

_One day, I decided I couldn't live like that any more. Enough was enough. My family never told me to my face, but I could tell that I was more trouble than they could handle. They never blamed me nor mistreated me, but any love they might've harbored for me was reduced to mere tolerance. And I couldn't continue living my life as a coward. The guilt was enough to eat me alive._

_So I decided I had to leave. If not for my family, then for me. For all of us. If I couldn't actively contribute, then I'd remove myself from the picture so that any sources of income and food could go to the ones who actually were doing something to care for the family. I'd leave, and return only when I found a way to give back to my family what I'd stolen from them. I was four months shy of my fifteenth birthday when I left my family and my hometown for the greater world._

_I eventually arrived in Berlin. I figured that big, bustling city, full of promise and greatness had something to offer even someone as pathetic as me. We were in the middle-end of the Industrial Revolution, and the scientific advances were tremendous. I also figured that, in a city that big, the chances that I'd encounter someone from my town was slim to none. So long as I kept my strange tendencies in check, I'd be fine._

_The only problem was, that of course I wasn't the only sap lured into the city by its big, shiny promises of wealth and a better life. As in many cities during the Industrial Revolution, there were huge amounts of country folk immigrating towards the big cities for many of the same reasons. Space was scarce. Places to rent a room were scarcer still. And far from cheap. Even in the cheapest places you could find willing to take you in, more often than not you'd have to share a room with people you didn't know. Anywhere from five to eleven people were crammed into a room. Yeah, life was far from luxuries or comfortable. My family might've been far from rich, but at least we all had our space. In Berlin, personal space was a foreign concept when you weren't high class or even simply born there; even the propriety of segregating genders was a rarity._

_Yeah, it was far from nice._

_One day, I was out searching for work when a group of people caught my eye. They were standing in middle of the street, which was odd enough as the people there always had places to go, people to see, money to make. Curious, I approached the small mob and looked at what they were focusing on. It was a small man with a tanned complexion and a wide smile. He was explaining that he was an adventurer, and he'd just recently arrived from far-off Asia – China, to be exact. And that he'd traded lots over there in order to bring us Europeans magnificent hand-made souvenirs. Among them, he'd had some firecrackers. And he lit them up._

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><p>"It was amazing, yeah," I said, returning from my memories and into the present, smiling widely at her. "At first, it was only firecrackers. You should've seen the people milling around nearly jump out of their skin! It was fascinating, yeah. Those things were so tiny, but they were loud and had quite the spark. Small but mighty, yeah. Kind of like you."<p>

She snorted. "I'm not that small. Actually, I'm average height."

"You look smaller than you are, yeah," I playfully quipped. "But anyway, it was just like _bang!_ One minute there's this tiny little red tube in his hand, and the next instant, it lets out this loud noise and shooting sparks, yeah! I could feel my heart racing! It was unlike anything I'd ever seen or heard of before!" I excitedly mime my thoughts with my hands, spreading my arms out wide and dramatically.

Sakura smiles softly at me, her eyes never leaving my face. She seems to enjoy this part of my story as much as I enjoy telling it. It must be amusing, yeah, to see a guy like me get so excited over something so small. Never mind the fact that I was actually a hundred and twenty-one years old. When Pein immortalized me, so had my soul, yeah.

"Then the guy, the merchant, suddenly pulls out a whole lot of them and they're all tied up in a row – and he lights them up, yeah! So it all goes like _band-bang-bang-bang!_ Some people panic, thinking it's too close to the sound of guns and therefore war, but the merchant quickly assured them that those are simply miniature pyrotechnics; used in festivals and celebrations. Those were just toys, he'd said, that the real treat laid on the big ones that were shot up in the sky, yeah.

"But I was already hooked with the small ones, yeah. The thought of seeing huge ones light up the night sky only excited me more. I was through the roof when he told me that those puny little firecrackers he had were nothing compared to the big ones, which could not only light up the sky for miles around but could do so in a great variation of color and even create certain shapes if done properly.

"At that moment, I had found my new addiction. Flavors were only the beginning; what I really hungered for was the exhilaration of something new and unique, yeah. But, I was unemployed with barely enough money in my pocket to pay for some food. I didn't even have enough for rent, so I was living on the streets. Although it was silly of my part, my desperation made me offer the man an exchange. My reasoning was that the man was a merchant, even if I didn't have money, if I had something of value he was interested in then I could get some fireworks, yeah."

"What did you offer him?" Sakura asked, enthralled by my story, her body leaning close to mine. I leaned towards her, too, grinning as I reached into my pocket and pulled out my little secret. Sakura followed my gaze down to my closed fist, fingers facing up; the only thing separating our faces from what could have been. I slowly uncurled my fingers, and one of my tiny clay birds laid on my palm.

"You offered him one of you creations?" she asked. I nodded.

"I didn't have much going for me, yeah. But aside from my weird habit, sculpting was something I'd always done to pass the time. When my friends left me, thinking me a freak, I created my own friends. It was easy, as even simple mud can be a good medium. And I'd had plenty of practice since my isolation. I wasn't a great artist, yeah, but it was better than could be said for one my age." I leaned back, placing the little bird in Sakura's open hand so she could admire it as I knew she liked to do.

"The bird I'd offered the man was one I'd had with me for years, back to a simpler time when I was part of the community and my family lived well with high hopes, yeah. To anyone else, it was a silly little clay bird. To me, it was a memoire, yeah, one I'd painstakingly decorated throughout the years into perfection.

"I didn't know if the man would be interested, or even so much as spare a glance at my offer. It was the most valuable thing I had, but that was for personal reasons. It might be worth no more than the dust on his shoes to the merchant. And yet… he turned and looked at it, yeah. He asked to see it. And the way he turned it in his hands, so carefully as if he was holding a precious gem… I can't describe the feeling, yeah. When he returned it to me, I was both relieved and disappointed at having it on my person again. But soon, any disappointment was cast out, as the man offered me a deal: I'd come to work for him, making my little creations for him in order to sell them and as his personal assistant, and not only would he pay me and provide me with the materials to make my sculptures, but he'd rent me a room of my own and thrown in a few firecrackers for me as well. I was speechless with joy, yeah."

"I'm so happy for you, Dei," Sakura sighed happily, her eyes taking that soft look she unknowingly displayed when she was content and at peace with the world. Like a happy ending long longed-for. The little clay bird I'd given her shook itself in her cupped hands, looking about before chirping and hopping towards me.

"Yeah," I said, stretching my hand so it could hop onto it. "It was a dream come true. Too good to be real. But it was."

We were silent for a little longer, simply enjoying the good atmosphere and each other's company. After some time, Sakura looked up at me from her lashes, her eyes slightly hazed from sleepiness. I smiled. It seemed she was just a tad too comfortable up here, yeah.

"Deidara," she said, "Can I ask you a question?"

"You just did, yeah," I smirked at her.

"Don't be a smart-ass. You now what I mean."

I chuckled, raising my hands in a placating way, the little clay bird having flown to my shoulder when I did. "Okay, yeah. Shoot."

Suddenly, her eyes no longer looked glazed, but troubled. She looked away, biting her lower lip unsurely. My smile dropped. What was wrong?

"Sakura-chan?"

"It's just… your story so far has a happy ending, from what I can see. I know that's not the whole story, and you suffered quite a bit when you were younger, and I don't want to make you feel bad or break the mood because it's so nice, and…"

"Sakura-chan, you're babbling, yeah," I teased her, inwardly smiling but not mentioning the "mood" she'd mentioned. I'd file that away for later. "You know you can ask me anything, yeah. I won't be offended."

She bit her lip again, looking up at me through her long eyelashes. "I just… don't understand, yet. Why you accepted Pein's offer."

I smiled softly at her, reaching for one of her hands. "We did mention, back when we began all this, that our stories were long and complicated, yeah, and sad" I reminded her as I helped her stand up simultaneously stood up from my seat myself. "Up until now, what I've shared with you is how I came to be. The emotional package up until now is only part of the whole, yeah. All that's left is just the feather that broke the camel's back, yeah, so to speak." Sakura looked a little downhearted at my words, and I realized that she was sad for _me_. Even though all I was telling her was long in the past and finished, she was still sad that I had to go through all that to begin with. I wondered if she felt the same for all the other monsters, yeah. Knowing her, it was likely.

But for now… now, her heart was mine; beating for me. Feeling for me.

I raised her hand to my lips and gave her a chaste kiss on gratefulness right on the knuckles. "Don't be sad, Sakura-chan, yeah," I said, smiling at her. "While the next part of my story is the sad part, it's not the end of my story, yeah. While I'm still alive," I raised her hand and pressed it into my chest, right over my heart, "my story will continue. And I'll eventually have my happy ending, yeah." I looked meaningfully at her and brushed a loose lock of her behind her ear as she blushed, but this time she didn't look away from me.

I grinned mischievously then, snaking my arm tightly around her waist. "Besides, yeah," I added playfully. "What good is a story without a little drama? And…excitement?" My wings suddenly exploded open behind me, and once again we shot up into the sky as fast as bullet in a split second. I laughed as Sakura screeched profanities, holding on to me as if her life depended on it.

"_Deidaraaaaaa!_"


End file.
